Suzi Dafnis is Community Director and CEO of the Australian Businesswomen’s Network, where she has been involved for over 20 years. This week she gives us the benefit of her decades of career-coaching experience and of her own development in business, which importantly is applicable to both men and women.
Many will wonder whether there is still a need for a women’s network in this day and age, and while Suzi says that the business landscape is significantly different to when the network first formed, she also pointed out that there are still conferences where every speaker is a man, and nearly all delegates are too. Thus there is still an imbalance. But why?
When it comes to the judgement of people’s success in business, only ‘the habit of confidence’ was cited as the main psychological difference between men and women in the workplace – even the concept of women taking time out to have babies was not seen as too big a barrier to success. But the advice about how to create that confidence is absolutely interchangeable across men and women. Some of the key points are below:
- Find a greater purpose than just using business to pay the bills.
- Always have a budget and a business plan, even at the very beginning of a project.
- Successful people always have mentors, so find a way to surround yourself with people who understand you.
- Find ways to hold yourself accountable. As per the above point: an informal network of people is a great way to spur you on to make progress
In this episode of Business Brain Food you will learn:
- What ‘risk’ really means
- The relative value of a business degree
- The concept of masterminding
- Effective blogging for business
- Ben’s future plans for a daily show
The Australian Businesswomen’s Network is quite simply a resource to empower people to be be more successful in business. The discussion kept going back to the fact that, especially when starting your own business, you are not going to have the skills and experience to understand every aspect of the business journey. So the people who find success are not necessarily the ones who have the most knowledge in the beginning – it is those who know where they have to go and find support who make it in the end.
It’s so utterly simple: use the resources you have at your disposal, and if they aren’t enough, go out and find some more!
Also, if you are enjoying these Business Brain Food podcasts, then make sure to share them via social media sites or email the links to family and friends. A lot of time and effort goes into producing each of these podcasts with the goal in mind of the more people we can inspire about business the better. You can help us do just that!
About the Author
Ben Fewtrell is a sought-after Business Coach, Keynote Speaker and trainer who has featured in Virgin’s Inflight Magazine and Entertainment Portal, SKY Business and “Secrets of Top Business Builders Exposed”. He is also the host of the popular Business Brain Food Podcast where he interviews leading experts on anything and everything business.
